BS Ticket for a (Center) Brake Light

mightyspacepopemightyspacepope Registered User regular
edited July 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
I received a ticket today and I was wondering if there's anything that could be done about it. Some background:

-I live in NJ.
-My expiration date for the inspection of my car is in September. In NJ, you can get your car inspected two months beforehand.
-I got my car inspected last Friday, failing due to my wiper blades needing replacement. They put a red "Rejected" sticker above my inspection sticker, but I'm still clearly okay until September.
-Driving home today, I pass by a cop car (I'm doing the limit). He follows me for a little while, then pulls me over.
-He asks me about the red sticker. I tell him it was due to needing to replace the blades. He says something along the lines of, "Oh, you went and did it early." I tell him yes.
-At this point, he tells me that one of my brake lights is out. I tell him that I didn't know that. (At this point, I'm thinking it's a sensible reason to pull me over).
-He tells me he's going to run my license/registration. He goes back to his patrol car and does so. At this point, another cop passes us, turns around, and parks behind the other car. He goes over to the passenger window of the first cop's car, and they seem to BS with each other for a while.
-Roughly 10 minutes later, the first cop comes back and tells me he's not going to do anything about the inspection, since I was trying to do the right thing. I don't think there's anything he can do in the first place, as it seems to me that I'm okay until September. I don't say this to him, though.
-He then tells me that my central brake light is out and he's giving me a ticket for it. I drive a 98 Neon. If you look at this picture you can see the tiny little light in the center.

The ticket itself is $53 and doesn't put any points on my insurance, which isn't that bad. At the same time, I just dropped a lot of hours in order to do a summer class, so my income isn't as strong as it used to be. Also, it seems like an incredibly fucktarded reason to give me a ticket. Do I have any options?

mightyspacepope on

Posts

  • KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
    edited July 2009
    You can take it up to the judge, show that you got the light replaced, and they MAY wave the ticket. It's worked for me in the past.

    Kyougu on
  • CrashtardCrashtard Registered User regular
    edited July 2009
    This is one of those fun technicalities that allows them to ticket you for no particular reason. On one hand it IS technically a brake light, on the other hand it's a tiny ass brake light that he most likely had to follow you to even find out that it was out. Like Kyougu said, if you can show it was replaced, they MIGHT waive the ticket. In times like these where the gov needs money, it's not likely though.

    Crashtard on
    I pinky swear that we will not screw you.

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  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    edited July 2009
    You might want to double check on the inspection issue. In a number of states, even if your old inspection is still valid, failing a current one still puts you in the wrong since your vehicle is technically not roadworthy.

    Also, yea, replace the light and tell the judge you did so. They'll probably say "ok, move along," but be prepared that they might not.

    Shadowfire on
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